German government asked to ditch Blackberrys

Wolfgang Gruener, 22nd June 2007

Brunnthal/Munich (Germany) – Piggybacking on a recent decision in France, a German industry organization wants German government officials to replace Blackberrys with a “more secure” German alternative.

In a letter directed to German Secreatary of State Wolfgang Schaeuble, the Software-Initiative Deutschland (SID) calls for a “deactivation” of the “security risk Blackberry”, similar to a move announced by the French government yesterday. According to the organization, Blackberry runs its E-mail service exclusively through data centers outside of Germany, there is an “acute threat” that sensitive data will get out of hand. SID recommended government officials to use German services instead of Blackberry, to keep E-mail traffic within the country.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently said that he was concerned that Blackberrys could provide American security services with access to secret information. The SID noted that especially the National Security Agency (NSA) is believed to use Blackberry services to retrieve sensitive information from other governments.